The SkiDubai complex, the pride of Dubai, was an essential part of our trip. As avid skiers, how could we miss the chance to ski at temperatures of +40 degrees!
The trip to SkiDubai was planned for 5 May, Sasha’s birthday, and, as is customary on such a momentous day, it began with a thorough review of our entire wardrobe.
We were 30 minutes behind schedule, and the fear of losing another half hour looking for an iron and an ironing board made me intervene. ‘I can give you my 3-kilogram camera bag. You can quickly iron your T-shirts under it, and they’ll be smooth in no time!’
After receiving a murderous look from my wife, I quietly shut up and sat down in my seat in the auditorium to continue watching the eternal spectacle beloved by all men since the time of Adam, called ‘a woman getting ready to go out.’
… well, the T-shirt will smooth out, but then I’ll definitely be in slippers … and definitely in a skirt … oh, I need to transfer everything to another bag …
But here, I shouldn’t have relaxed and clicked away. It’s not like I’ve been married for 20 years. When a woman is getting ready, you have to constantly monitor her every move and adjust your own accordingly. If you hesitate for even a second, something is bound to happen. And that’s exactly what happened.
‘He must have left it in the old bag!’ Alexandra recalls. Of course, it was where it had been for the previous few days. Until she started thinking, ‘Maybe I should wear a skirt.’
But I won’t get ahead of myself. The cost of visiting SkiDubai is $50 per person, but you need to rent at least one locker for your belongings. There is a 10 dirham deposit for the card, which is returned when you leave. Just don’t forget to put the card in the appropriate machine to the left of the cash desk.
Upon entering the main hall, we receive our equipment: a thin jacket and trousers instead of the promised warm ones, ski boots and skis. We change, take the escalator up to the slope, where we can pick up ski poles, go out onto the slope and… are slightly blown away. No, not from what we saw, but from what we felt. Of course, we were warned that the temperature on the slopes at SkiDubai is kept at -5, but as it turned out, the light, loose jackets we were given to wear over our sleeveless shirts did not keep us warm at all. Almost freezing to death after the first very slow ascent on the chairlift, I ran back to buy gloves and a hat to at least reduce the heat loss.
So that’s how the Emirates got built! After seeing the prices, the drug lords’ earnings seem laughable: a disposable hat and a pair of gloves for 20 bucks — that’s not even a 1000% return on investment. I return to the slope. It’s gotten a little warmer, but overall it’s still a nightmare. If you decide to visit SkiDubai, dress warmly. The heat doesn’t bother you, but the cold does. At times, it felt like the supports were starting to sway, we were being shaken so hard.
Of course, we are cold-blooded creatures, I won’t hide it, we don’t tolerate the cold very well, but considering that the most common illnesses among tourists in hot countries are colds, why take the risk?
Now about the ‘mountain’ — it turned out to be shorter than we had expected in the worst-case scenario.
However, the snow was not bad, not icy, although the slope was not perfectly prepared, and on one of the two trails, the snowcat left a hard joint. To somehow enjoy ourselves (and to warm up), most of those who knew how to ski switched to frequent heel drops, like moguls. Although after 3-4 descents, I finally got the hang of carving, managing to make 5-6 turns with some risk. Why with risk? In addition to the cold, the very soft boots ruined the whole experience, making it almost impossible to control the skis. In general, a bad dancer will always find something to complain about. Once I got home, I thought to myself, ‘I should have walked up the mountain! It’s not the first time, and we would have warmed up at the same time!’
Finally frozen stiff, even a lift on the chairlift in a hug didn’t help, so we made a unanimous decision: to hell with SkiDubai, let’s get out of here!
After riding for a little over an hour of the two we had paid for, we jumped out of the shopping centre at the nearest exit to the street and stood in the warm sunshine, to the surprise of the staff. Without saying a word, we reached into our bag, where we had stashed 100 grams of whisky in a soda bottle.
After chewing some gum and returning to the world of warmth and comfort, we summed up our experience: SkiDubai is only worth visiting if you have an extra 50 bucks to spare and are driven by a desire to tick off a box, like ‘been here, done that.’ In the latter case, consider just going inside as a tourist without renting equipment, as it’s cheaper. It’s better to plan your visit for the morning, as by lunchtime there was already a suspicious influx of people. If you already know how to ski, then from a skiing point of view, SkiDubai is of course a waste of time. And the status of a ‘black’ 30-metre slope was probably assigned when the lights were completely off.
Of course, we are partly to blame for hoping for the advertised ‘warm jackets’ and not preparing for the cold, so we weren’t too disappointed. After all, not everyone managed to go skiing in 40-degree heat, but we did! Another tick in the box.
